4.a) Fire Department Hiring Process Meeting Date: 2/14/2012
Agenda Item: �� �
City Council Agenda Report
City of Scandia
14727 209�' St. North
Scandia, MN 55073 (651) 433-2274
Action Requested: None—Receive a briefing on issues concerning the Fire Department's
upcoming hiring process. Action items will be scheduled for the
February 21, 2012 regular meeting.
Deadline/ Timeline: Proposed timeline:
• February 21—Council action on proposed policy and job
description changes, authorize advertisement
• February 24 to March 30—accept applications
• Apri14/5—Review applications
• April 18/19—Interviews Round One
• Apri121—Physical testing
• May 9/10—Interviews Round Two; make conditional offers
• May 15—Appointment(s)by City Council
• June 2—Start date
Background: • The number of paid-on-call volunteer firefighters has been
reduced due to several retirements since new members were last
added in 2010. The Department would like to bring on a class of
up to six new members for training in 2012.
• The Chief has proposed a hiring process similar to what was used
in 2010. Prior to advertising for new members, there are several
issues that the Fire Deparhnent wishes to discuss with the Council:
o The Fire Department Operational Policy requires a 24-
month probationary period for new firefighters. The
Department would like to reduce this to 12 months.
o The position descriptions for all firefighting jobs (from
Probationary Firefighter to Chie�require that they reside
or are employed within a fifteen (15)minute response time
to the City of Scandia Fire Station. The Department would
like to reduce this response time to eight (8) minutes.
o The last hiring process incorporated City Council HR
Committee member participation in the first round of
interviews and in the determination of conditional offers to
be made to the candidates. The Council should discuss
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how it wishes to participate in the hiring process in 2012.
Recommendation: I recommend that the Council discuss the issues identified for the
Firefighter hiring process, above.
Based on the discussion at the work session, specific action items
(such as approval of changes to the Fire Department Operational
Policy and the job descriptions, and authorization to advertise for
applicants) will be brought to the Council for action at the next regular
meeting (February 21, 2012.)
Attachments/ • None
Materials provided:
Contact(s): Jim Finnegan, Fire Chief(651 755-8675)
Prepared by: Anne Hurlburt, Administrator
(FD Hiring Issues)
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